Download Fiche (Pdf)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NR & NEW INTERNATIONAL SELECTION DOCUMENTATION MINIMUM FICHE For office use Wp/ref no Nai ref no Composed by working party of: Australia DOCOMOMO Australia Australia Square, Harry Seidler 1967 1 Identity of building/group of buildings/urban scheme/landscape/garden 1.1 Current Name of Building Australia Square 1.2 Variant or Former Name 1.3 Number & Name of Street 264-278 George St 1.4 Town Sydney 1.5 Province New South Wales 1 1.6 Zip code 2000 1.7 Country Australia 1.8 National grid reference 1.9 Classification/typology Commercial 1.10 Protection Status & Date RAIA NSW Chapter Register of 20th Century Buildings of Significance (item 4703039) 2 History of building The design concept for Australia Square aimed at solving the problems of urban redevelopment in a comprehensive way. The Australia Square project aimed at bringing a new openness into the congested heart of the city, with plaza areas open to the sky, an arcaded ground floor design and a circular 50-storey tower which allowed maximum light into surrounding streets. Australia Square was a landmark development in the 1960s. Its planning, design and construction were marked by creative innovation. Australia Square challenged the planning and architectural thinking of the time. The result was praised and indeed became a highly significant project in the wider context of development in Sydney. The site of Australia Square was the product of a protracted site consolidation carried through by G J Dusseldorp, building promoter and developer, Chairman of Lend Lease Corporation. From the early 1950s the concept of redeveloping parts of the city by consolidating small city lots to form a single larger site suitable for the erection of a skyscraper had been discussed. Dusseldorp’s amalgamation brought under one ownership an entire city block, involving over 30 different properties and more than 80 titles. This, the first of the whole block developments, resulted in the demolition of a number of buildings which, in the later 20th century, would be regarded as having heritage significance and would have compromised the scheme. Dusseldorp formed a company called City Centre Development Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Lend Lease, to finance the project. Sydney City Council gave approval for the scheme in July 1960. Lend Lease had put the proposal before the Council in May of that year and it took less than three months to have the complex proposal passed with little amendment. It had had the endorsement of the city building surveyor, John Rankin who was a member of the powerful Height of Building Advisory Committee. He said the time was ‘opportune to replan the block.’1 No public display of such radical changes to streets and massive building demolition was necessary at this time. The proposal was in fact very generous to Lend Lease. Lend Lease was to give land to the Council for the widening of Bond Street and to dedicate land as roadway on Hunter Street (provided the company could acquire all the properties on the northern side of Hunter Street between George Street and Pitt Street). It also allowed for the elimination of Deans Place, Little George Street and Little Hunter Street and the closing of the section of Hamilton Street 2 between Bond Street and Hunter Street. This land could then become part of the company’s large building site. The provisions of the County of Cumberland Scheme were suspended tallow planning to be undertaken for the whole block. However, the finalised development did not finally incorporate the properties on the northern side of Hunter Street between Pitt and George Streets. Harry Jensen, Sydney Lord Mayor presided over a “start-of-work’ ceremony in December 1962. Sydney City Council gave approval for the scheme in July 1960 and Harry Jensen, Sydney Lord Mayor presided over a “start-of-work” ceremony in December 1962. Architect Harry Seidler travelled to Rome to confer with Italian structural engineer, Pier Luigi Nervi. Nervi’s advice was sought particularly in relation to the concrete design of the circular tower. The 13-storey Plaza Building was completed May 1964 and the 50- storey 171m high Tower Building in 1967. Australia Square was a landmark development in the 1960s. Its planning, design and construction were marked by creative innovation. Australia Square challenged the planning and architectural thinking of the time. The result was praised and indeed became a highly significant project in the wider context of development in Sydney. The site of Australia Square was the product of a protracted site consolidation carried through by G J Dusseldorp, building promoter and developer, Chairman of Lend Lease Corporation. From the early 1950s the concept of redeveloping parts of the city by consolidating small city lots to form a single larger site suitable for the erection of a skyscraper had been discussed. Dusseldorp’s amalgamation brought under one ownership an entire city block, involving over 30 different properties and more than 80 titles. This, the first of the whole block developments, resulted in the demolition of a number of buildings which, in the later 20th century, would be regarded as having heritage significance and would have compromised the scheme. Dusseldorp formed a company called City Centre Development Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Lend Lease, to finance the project. The design concept for Australia Square aimed at solving the problems of urban redevelopment in a comprehensive way. Sydney City Council gave approval for the scheme in July 1960. Lend Lease had put the proposal before the Council in May of that year and it took less than three months to have the complex proposal passed with little amendment. It had had the endorsement of the city building surveyor, John Rankin who was a member of the powerful Height of Building Advisory Committee. He said the time was ‘opportune to replan the block.’1 No public display of such radical changes to streets and massive building demolition was necessary at this time. The proposal was in fact very generous to Lend Lease. Lend Lease was to give land to the Council for the widening of Bond Street and to dedicate land as roadway on Hunter Street (provided the company could acquire all the properties on the northern side of Hunter Street between George Street and Pitt Street). It also allowed 3 for the elimination of Deans Place, Little George Street and Little Hunter Street, the closing of the section of Hamilton Street between Bond Street and Hunter Street. This land could then become part of the company’s large building site. The provisions of the County of Cumberland Scheme were suspended tallow planning to be undertaken for the whole block. However, the finalised development did not finally incorporate the properties on the northern side of Hunter Street between Pitt and George Streets. Harry Jensen, Sydney Lord Mayor presided over a “start-of-work’ ceremony in December 1962. Sydney City Council gave approval for the scheme in July 1960 and Harry Jensen, Sydney Lord Mayor presided over a “start-of-work” ceremony in December 1962. Architect Harry Seidler travelled to Rome to confer with Italian structural engineer, Pier Luigi Nervi. Nervi’s advice was sought particularly in relation to the concrete design of the circular tower. The 13-storey Plaza Building was completed May 1964 and the 50- storey 171m high Tower Building in 1967. Australia Square built between 1962 and 1967 is of national cultural significance for the development of the modern movement in architecture in Australia. The Tower and Plaza Buildings and the Plaza are important as milestones in the architectural and urban development of the ‘modern’ City of Sydney. Australia Square is a major civic place incorporating one of the first modern office towers in Australia designed by one of Australia’s leading architects, Harry Seidler. In 1967 the NSW Chapter of the RAIA awarded the Australia Square Tower the Sir John Sulman Medal, and the Australia Square Plaza the Civic Design Award. It has significant associations with prominent international figures including: the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the lighting engineer Edison Price, the architect/artist Le Corbusier and the artists Miro, Alexander Calder, and Victor Vasarely. Australia Square represents important advances in urban design combined with significant technical advances. The six Seidler towers in the City of Sydney (Australia Square, MLC, Grosvenor Place, Capita, Horizon and Cove Apartments) demonstrate the vitality of Modernism, and the evolution of the main current of Modern architecture. Australia Square is associated with the major company, the Lend Lease Corporation Ltd. and was constructed under the auspices of the Dutch developer, G.J. Dusseldorp. Lend Lease together with Civil and Civic, the builders of Australia Square, have continuously occupied the Tower and Plaza Buildings since construction. Australia Square Tower is an elegant innovative building regarded as a landmark building in Sydney. An icon of Australian architecture, it is “a rare confluence of commercial opportunism, modernist planning ideology, technology and aesthetic sensibility” (Neville Quarry, Ch 17 Tall Buildings Australian Business Going Up: 1945- 1970) It is of historic importance for its pioneering approach to the problems of urban redevelopment through the provision of public space on private land, thus minimising problems of pedestrian and 4 atmospheric congestion. The site plan and amenities were influenced by and were associated with the planning incentives introduced in the 1971 Sydney Strategy Plan. It was the first practical demonstration of an amalgamation of old titles into one large tract and the development of a site to leave public space at ground level. It was the first city block development in Sydney. 2.1 Original Brief/Purpose Commercial Office 2.2 Dates: Commission/Completion Submission for the scheme in May 1960.